Method of obtaining entry and exit times of any desired length in railways with very close train sequence



Sept. 30. 1930. KRUCKENBERG 7 1,776,913 IETHOD OF OBTAINING ENTRY AND EXIT TIMES OF ANY DESIRED LENGTH IN RAILWAYS WITH VERY CLOSE TRAIN SEQUENCE Filed March 15-, 1928 00 0 000 000000000000 oosssags sa m ssss 0 000000008 00000088888800oo0008880000 0000000060 00000000 00000000000000000 0 O 0 OO o O o O O O O O 0 0000000 0 0 o O O 0 0 0 0000000 9 0 Q 0 0 8 O 0000 O o O 0 0 Q 0 000 000 0 O o 0 0 o 0 0 o o o 0 opened before the rear entry doors. This can be effected as soon as the door reaches the beginning of the platform. The vehicle commences to empty forwards. The rear door only reaches the beginning of the outer platform some time later, so that entry of passengers only commences when the exit stream where possible has already finished.

When sufficient time for the transfer of passengers from the platform to the vehicle and vice verse has been achieved by the above described arrangement, and a flow in one di rection has been attained, by arranging the middle platform for leaving passengers and the outer platform for entering passengers, there is till something lacking in that the trafiic stream on the platforms is itself not uniform and continuous. This can be achieved by the passengers being conducted to the vehicles slowly passing through the stations by the aid of moving Stairways (escalators) and travelling platforms. These moving stairways and platforms must be so dimensioned for constant speeds that they can carry the necessary number of passengers for filling or emptying. At the same time the vehicles and moving platform do not need to have the same forward speeds. From among the may possible combinations an exam ole based on an ideal motion diagram is escribed below. Assuming for example that in rapid transport railways the largest individual vehicle or train is 60 metres long, that there are 8 passengers per metre length, and that the maximum speed, breaking times and signalling system involve a time interval of 60 seconds between the individual vehicles or trains, then 480 passengers pass through any given cross section of the line in 60 secs. The transport capacity in respect of number per unit time is the same if 8 passengers pass through a given cross section every second. This means that in the rapid transport railway under consideration, a trafiic stream can be assumed in which columns of 8 at 1 metre apart move forward at a speed of 1 m./sec.

In Figure 2 of the accompanying drawings is shown a movement diagram for a station. The small circles indicate passengers. They walk in eights on the section marked 15 with a speed of 1 metre/sec. (3.6 kin/hr.) at distances of 1 metre. At 16 they reach for example the steps of a moving stairway which moves for example at a speed of 0.5 m. /sec. On the stairway section 17 the passengers are crowded together so far as they do not walk forward on the steps in the manner experience shows to be usual. The moving stairway changes to a moving platform at 18; 20 are rapid transport rail way vehicles which'pass through the station at a speed of 1 m./sec. The speed difference between the moving platform and the Vehicles is consequently 0.5 m./sec. which must be made up by the passengers moving on the platform if they do not prefer to stand still in. order to enter at one of the next doors. In the example given 8 persons per second must always pass any given point on the traflic path, consequently through the boundary line between 19 and 20. If the vehicles have few doors the section 19 will be long and so much smaller as more doors are provided.

In order to achieve the result aimed at by the invention, it is naturally not essential to adopt the arrangement described in the above ideal example. If the lowest speed at which the vehicles close together must pass through the station is too high, several moving platforms with different speeds can be provided which permit a passage from the stationary platform to the moving vehicles. It may also be in the interest of safe and rapid passage into the vehicles for the moving platform next to the vehicles to move at the same speed as the vehicles. If effective traffic discipline can be maintained so that the passengers do not themselves move along the moving platform but remain standing until they are opposite a door into which they can passthis applies to the case when the vehicles move at a different speed from the platformthen the arrangement of separate platforms can be dispensed with and the entry and exit take place with a single platform.

If the moving platform is arranged to change into a moving stairway at the ends, a further result is obtained. The passengers will then be automatically prevented from reaching the trains and being injured at particular danger points, as exist for example in ordinary railways at the platform ends. The passengers will be carried away from the doors by the moving platform sinking beneath them as a stairway. For railways in-which the departure of the trains from the stations is dependent on the closing of automatically operated doors, this arrangement is particularly advantageous since the incessant re-opening of the half closed doors will be-automatically prevented.

In Figures 3 and 4c the beginning and end of a platform lay-out as described is shown in perspective.

By means of the moving stairway 17 (Figure 3) the passengers reach themoving platform 19. Anyone fearing the moving stair way can instead use the staircase 21,.first reaching the stationary platform 22, and stepping from this on to the moving platform'19. The moving platform at the other end (Figure 4:) again changes over to a moving stairway 23. When during the passage of the Vehicle 20 the door 24 has reached the end of the moving platform 19, the removal of the passengers from the door takes place automatically. 'When the door has reached the position shown in dotted lines in Figure 4, no passenger can remain at a doorway any longer since the floor on which he previously stood has descended by the height of a man. The only course left to the passenger, who hitherto would not willingly leave the door opening, is to ascend the fixed stairway 25, to return along the fixed platform 22 to the commencing end of the moving platform and to try again to enter a vehicle.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is:

1. A transportation system of the type in which a moving platform travels parallel to the right of way to provide a station, characterized by the fact that said platform terminates, at the respective ends thereof, in moving stairways. I

2. The invention as set forth in claim 1, wherein said Stairways are positioned, with reference to vehicles moving on said roadway, to move passengers away from the doorways of said vehicles.

3. In a transportation system, the combination with a moving platform serving as a loading station, of a moving stairway at each end of said moving platform, said stair- Ways operating between the level of said moving platform and a lower level, whereby prospective passengers are automatically moved away from the vehicle entrances at the exit end of said station.

4. The invention as set forth in claim 3, in combination with stationary stairs and a stationary platform at the side of said moving platform remote from the right of way, said stationary and moving stairs and platforms, respectively, being aligned to constitute, in effect, a single station structure in which the sections adjacent the right of way travel in the direction of vehicle travel.

In testimony whereof I have aflixed my signature.

FRANZ KRUOKENBERG. 

